Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-06-16

LANCASTER, JUNE 10. 1851.
Frsnklln sud Marshall.

q Fnnklin and Marshall college has ex.
htod for . long time, in its dual and
buoded state, and its friends must concede
Cnnt it has not as yet seen the COM
pases fulilment of the great mission it
- itself out to perform an institution Of
lsarning which assumed the name of the
meat Franklin and had him for a god
father, ought in the many years that have
since passed away, to occupy more influ.
entail position and to have reached
eEeater growth than it enjoys to-day. So
all will admit, though all will not agree as
70 tho cause of its situation and the
remedy for its comparative weakness.
some may say that it suffers from its de-
nominatiOnal character, but it was not de-
nominationa until its alliance with Mar
shall, and it did not flourish when that
marriage took place. 1t was nothing more
than IN academy when it won to wife the
lrcersburg institution. 1t was not be-
cause 1t was without Endorsement, for it
had more means then than it made effec.
tive use of. 1t simply stood still while the
more aggressively managed institutions ad.
The natural law, which gave growth to the
strong, left it behind with the weak. 1t
b not given to all colleges or all men TO
succeed. There must be some to climb
up highest.
We have, in truth, more colleges than
~ need and fewer academies and the col
leges strew the wsyside in all conditions of
existence, from the academy up to the
university. Franklin and Marshall is be-
yond the academic position, and to be use
ful must push itself up into the highest
order Of colleges. What it needs, Of course
II endowment, in these days when colleges
do not pretend to depend upon their earn
ings for their expenses. Their teaching is
HD@ly gfatuitous and the cost Of college
education is not in the sum paid
70 the institution, but in the living Of the
student away from his home and in the
side expenses Of society and social origin
The very great endowment of all prominent
colleges makes it impossible to aspire tc
their ranks without like foundation.
Franklin and Marshall is reaching out
for this necessity, with hope of its achieve.
ment. But when it has it, it will not
have all it needs. 1t must have trustees
who understand the demands Of the
!, education of the day and who are efficient
In selecting the instruments that will
secure them. And II they can find field
In education that is comparatively un.
occupied, their success will he great if they
can enter it. And here it seems to us
that one great need Of our colleges is a
more intimate relationship with the
students and a supervision which, while it
does not bind, directs. There are few young
men who know their capabilities, and one
OF the highest functions Of the teacher is to
find these out in the pupil and to give him
the direction that will make his life most
useful. Our great colleges make no at
tempt to do this; our smaller colleges have
It In their power to obtain more intimate
knowledge of their students characters an(
capabilities, and it seems to us have "a higl
and noble mission assigned to them il
adding quality TO the product of true
RrnduAtiOn,